I figured I'd put this in this forum since my daughter is a beginner. I'll put up some of her shots later.

So check this out...

I had a "rush" job this weekend, which means I had to take some time away from the family to get the shots. I decided, as an experiment, to bring along my 7 year old daughter Emma. I figure "Career Day!!" Right?

Anyway, we pack along her little pink Fisher Price camera, but I forgot that I had taken the stupid memory card out of it, so she ran out of pictures really quickly ... like in 10 minutes. Odds are good I would be here for another 2 hours and there was no way she was going to be kept interested 2+ hours without her camera.

Now what?

Well... I did bring along my D100 (my backup camera). Do I dare let her use it? <shudder> Gotta do something, and really that camera is only worth a few hundred bucks now anyway, as much as I love the old thing. Ok, let's try it.

I give her some basic instructions and some very firm words on being careful, not touching the lens, no running, etc. Much to my surprise, she took to it instantly and was REALLY enjoying it. She even giggled when she was able to take 3-4 pictures in rapid succession. "This is so cool Daddy!!!"

I was beside myself. I'd turn around and she was crouched down taking pictures of a leaf or a bug close up, or literally lying on the ground taking pictures looking up at one of the buildings I was shooting. I was floored!

I mean, sure, 95% of the pics were horrible , but actually some of them really weren't at all bad.

Anyway, I ripped off a few pictures of her. They're nothing of any real merit from a portrait perspective, but I really wanted to share and I knew this would get REALLY lost in the "just for fun" section, so please forgive me.

That is so excellent...
She looks like she was born with it in her hand...
Now when you say only about 5% were keepers... Well, when you think that a good many PRO wedding photographers shoot 300 or more images at a session and then hand over 30 in an album to the B&G, well that's 10% - so she's doing pretty good for a 7 yr old...
My 10 yr old grand-daughter took an Espio P&S on a recent school trip to Sydney and came back with nearly 500 shots... We sat down together and critiqued them and boiled them down to 44 keepers (10%) that were printed 6x4 (Fujiprint) and mounted in an album to take to school... The album toured the school... she was so proud... and so was Poppy... Best $9 I ever spent on photography...
So, as well as honouring us with your daughter's work - go ahead and print her best and mount them in an album... She will be ecstatic... And what a keepsake for the whole family...
Jedo

That is excellent! My son is the same way. He's got one of those "kid tough" fisher price digital cameras. He keeps it in a lunch box and is always talking about his camera and how it's very fragile and I have to be careful and not touch the lens! (Can you tell he's heard that from me about my camera? ) But he always likes to bring it along when I go out shooting and he is my "assistant" the whole time. It's really fun.

I really like these shots of your daughter. She is precious. As everyone else said, I'd love to see some of the shots she got!